Community leaders launch initiative to clean up four south St. Louis neighborhoods

Volunteers at a previous cleanup event organized by Dutchtown South Community Corporation with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers

Provided by Dutchtown South Community Corporation

Four neighborhoods in south St. Louis could look a lot cleaner in the next couple years, thanks to new local efforts to address illegal dumping.

The "So Fresh, So Clean, So Creative Southside St. Louis" project, initiated by the Dutchtown South Community Corporation, recently received a $120,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency.

The two-year grant will fund efforts to educate residents on how to report illegal dumping, which is common in the neighborhoods of Dutchtown, Marine Villa, Gravois Park and Mount Pleasant. DSCC is working with the nonprofit group Brightside St. Louis to help with cleanup and education efforts.

Some of the federal funds will be spent on translation services, as many residents who live in the area are immigrants or refugees, with limited English speaking skills. The project also will seek to determine what is driving illegal dumping in the area.

Amanda Cólon-Smith, project manager at the Dutchtown South Community Corporation, said the neighborhoods have a "busy" appearance that might invite folks to dump waste improperly. In the coming months, she plans to hold meetings to talk to residents about how they can help address the problem. It's not enough, she said, to simply hold a community cleanup event.

Brightly-colored tires simulating flower beds popped-up along a two-block stretch of Gasconade Street Saturday in the Dutchtown neighborhood of south St. Louis.

Bicycle and pedestrian advocacy group Trailnet set the tires up to block the corners of intersections leading up to Marquette Park, shortening the distance people crossing the road were exposed to traffic. Other tires formed a zig-zag route for drivers to navigate.